2005 D1 GRAND PRIX
■“Decision” of Manabu Orido ; From judge to the drifter
One of the most surprising incidents of this event is that Manabu Orido decided to participate in D1 Grand Prix.
He is the first grand champion of the Drift Contest GP and he is one of the judges from 2004. Why does he decide to take part in D1 Grand Prix is spite of the pro-driver who join the GT champion ship.
He mentioned in his official homepage as follow.
I decided to participate in the D1 Grand Prix not as a judge but as a driver from this year.
I have been thinking about this for a long time, however I want to challenge the drifting one more time, as it is my starting point. Mr.Tsuchiya is making a great effort to manage this event and teach his younger generation.
By coming back as a driver, I’ll be able to discover new things and feed them back to the drivers and managers.
Of course, I understand well that my determination made many people bothered especially video option, manager of the event, Mr. Tuchiya, Mr. Suzuki and so on.
However, I think that this is the good chance to drive. As I mentioned before, it has been becoming a far away dream.
There are not only people who approve of my decision but also people who oppose to, however I will try all my best and to feel that it is a good decision.
This year, my sponsor is RS-R who has been supporting me when I begin racing. As you know, RS-R is producing the suspension and muffler for a long time in this industry.
The president of this company eagerly supports my taking part in the D1 saying,
“Do whatever style you like”.
We are going to give active and best support to driver Orido to satisfy with his decision.
■With his favorite JZA80
Orido’s machine is JZA80 Supra.
Modifying the based vehicle is committed to the Tsuchiya engineering that he learn the now-how of the vehicle from. Because this is his request that he want to have much opinion. Tsuchiya engineering modifies the vehicle as light as possible.
He bring completed based vehicle to the car maintenance school NATS where he teach as a part-time. More modifying has been done together with instructing the students. Students of that school are going to support him at the D1 event.
He is going to commit the engine setting and final modifying to Auto-produce BOSS in Nagano, which he has known for a long time.
It is Round 2 Odaiba that is going to shakedown. They are now working rapidly.
■Round 1 is held in california
The first round of the D1 Grand Prix in 2005 is going to be hold in Irwin dale speedway CA, US. Qualifying will be on February 26th and final on 27th.
American driver Alex who drives S2000 will participate in only US event.
Please refer to the official site of the D1 Grand Prix about ticket and time schedule.
■Thank you for your support for our Team RS★R
| Driver’s name |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Manabu Orido | Kazunari Hayashida | |
| History |
|
|
| Vehicle | Model | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| Supra | JZA80 | Manabu Orido |
| Silvia | S15 | Kazunari Hayashida |
※New vehicle for Orido is going to debut on Round 2
※Hyashida drive S14 for Round 1
| Vehicle | Sponsor |
|---|---|
| JZA80 | ADVAN APP NATS ORC Projectμ RIDOX TAKATA |
| S15 | AAR ADVAN APP BELLOF C-WEST Defi ENKEI OKUYAMA ORC TAKATA TOMEI |
| Company name |
|---|
| RS-R CO.,LTD |
| Auto produce BOSS CO.,LTD |
| Japan Automobile collage (NATS) |
■All drivers got through to the finals
D1 Grand Prix Round 1 was held on February 26th and 27th at the Irwindale speedway in the US.
Team RS★R arrived at the venue on 24th and do some practice and modifying. At this time, S14 had a minor collision with the vehicle of driver Utsumi. It was not influence on the driving, however got a sever damage at the right front. We managed to repair the vehicle before the practice by the great effort of the mechanics and we came back to practice again.
Driver Orido practiced the speed and quantity of the smoke at the corner. However, set-up for deferential gear is not match with the vehicle and can’t stop at the third corner. After practice, we modified the deferential gear and adjust the cutting angle of the front wheel.
Driver Orido crushed in the second run of the practice before the event day. Right side of the vehicle got a fatal damage by that crush. While we were repairing, driver Hayashida also got damage to the rear knuckle in the second run of the practice. We suddenly suffered from the double sever trouble. We bring back to the garage and repair them all night to prepare for the qualifying.
On qualifying day, driver Orido and Hayashida succeeded in three runs and went through to the finial round. Driver Alex of the RS★R USA driver also decided to go through the final round.
On final day, first run is driver Hayashida. His runs, compared with the diver who advanced to the top 16, didn’t have and impact in front of the judging stand and he ended in this round.
Next driver is Orido, he is good for the speed and smoke but small angle at the third corner in the first run. He tried to cover the mistake of the first run with the second run, however he spun at the corner. His last run begins with the good entry to the corner, however he crushed caused by over speed also ended up in this round.Driver Alex couldn’t go through the top16 either in spite of his nice driving.
■Video Report
■Link
■RS★R Supra is now under developing.
We are developing the RS★R Supra with all speed , which will be used for the D1 Grand Prix Round 2 at Odiba. This time, we want to introduce the part of the development.
■Is it going to be debuted on April 10th?
We are going to shakedown our RS★R Supra on April 8th , not open for public though. It’ll be able to debut on April 10th at the Fuji speed way renewal festival. Please refer to the detail written below.| Date | Contents | Place |
|---|---|---|
| April 8th, 2005 | Shakedown | Secret |
| April 10th, 2005 | Demo-run | Fuji Speedway |
| April 15th, 2005 | D1 Grand Prix Round 2 Qualifying | Nikko circuit |
| April 16th, 2005 | D1 Grand Prix Round 2 Final | Odaiba special course | April 17th, 2005 | D1 Grand Prix All-Star Game | Odaiba special course |
■Link
Fuji speedway www.fujispeedway.co.jpMAX☆Orido www.orido.jp
■All star Round is open.
RS★R couldn't get a prize at the Round1 in the US, however we prepare for the new vehicles for Round2 at Odaiba to revenge.
Orido drives the new-model Supra we introduced in the report before. Hayashida drive S15 Silvia with strong line-up. Vehicle is produced by Okuyama cooperation, we use 2.2L engine, which is completed by Tomei powered, and Auto-produce assembled and maintain the vehicle.
Qualifying day on 15th,Hayashida got trouble for the turbine of the vehicle while he was practicing. He showed a good drifting in spite of his disadvantage that is caused by the trouble for turbine. However, he couldn’t make an enough appeal at the final corner and defeated at the qualifying.
On the other hand, though shakedown of the new vehicle for driver Orido delayed, judge gave a good evaluation for him. This is because he focused on the entry speed to the corner and got 99 of high score going through the final.
Final on next day, the bracket is consist of qualifiers and seeded drivers. As we expected, seeded drivers constantly got a good score. However, Orido won the first round thanks to the score 98.8 which he got at the first run suffering from the under steer of the entry to corner and spinning.
The next competitor was Imamura of APEX who went through to the finals for four years in a low. On the first run, driver Imamura missed the line at the first corner and driver Orido got inside to overtake. Spectator got very excited. On the second run, the accident happened. Side differential was broken and difficult to control the vehicle, however managed to finish. Vehicle came back to the goal with cracking sounds and we ended to retire the race. We won the battle, therefore it is really vexing result. Our final place is 8th.
All- Star Game was held on 17th. We repair the vehicle using the parts of the Supra which driver Orido has as his own car. As repairing has been done emergently, final gear didn’t complete, however we got perfect points going through tandem run.
The competitor of the first tandem battle was driver Asamoto. Both drivers showed an even game until second corner, however driver Asamoto made a mistake an Orido got advantage. At the second tandem run, they are even, however finally Orido won the race.
At the second tandem battle, Orido put his heart and soul into this battle, because he could be in this position the day before if he hadn’t got trouble. The competitor was driver Tanaka from Team Orange. They got the same score at the first run, however Orido got into inside and went off the truck. Final place was ended in 7th.
■Video Report
■Link
■Qualifying in wet condition
Practicing was begun in the heavy rain causing one-firth of the vehicles went off the truck. It took a lot of time to deal with the vehicle out of the course and it made practice run two times to one time. Qualifying was conducted under this condition.
Driver Orido controlled the vehicle well at the first run in spite of the wet condition and got the good score. At his second run, his driving tended to understeer. At the important run of the third, he was at the position whether go through the next battle or not, however he tried an aggressive run getting the 98 point to advance the next stage.
On the other hand, driver Hayashida had an under steer in the first corner of the first run. His second run got a difficult condition from the low-speed in spite of the good score of second and third corner. At the third run, as the same with second run, he entered the low-speed at the third corner. At this point, he was in the boarder line of passing the qualifying, however, he couldn’t advanced the next battle.
Final day was a fine whether. At the first run of the first battle in the good road condition, he got good score from the first corner to second corner despite he vehicle’s in gravel. Second run was also good and at his third run, he got difficult judge because of the mistake at the first and second corner. However, as he has got good score in the first and second run, he got 99 points and placed 12th. He advanced the next round.
Driver Orido won’t be able to participate in the next auto-police, because he will join the Group N. However, driver hayashida placed 6th at this circuit last year, therefore we hope for his good driving.
■Video Report
■Link
■Whether condition decide the race.
In the firth round of the D1 Grand Prix in 2005, driver KAZU☆Hayashida participated in the race from Team RS-R and MAX☆Orido can’t join in this round, because he took part in the Group N.
This auto-police is very hopeful course for the driver Hayashida, for his 6th place last year. Modifying of the vehicle is almost ended and he drove a wonderful run at the practice day, as we expected.
On the first day of the event, we made an entry in the Group A. As he might have been too eager at the first run, he went off the course and got into the gravel in front of the judging stand at the first corner. It began to rain in the second run and he also made a mistake that might be caused by the nervous mind of the first run. This made us never making a mistake.
Immediately after that, the whether condition suddenly changed and made the road wet. Sudden change of the road condition lead the crush to many drivers and they temporally stopped the qualifying. He probably had a mental conflict between the presser of the last chance and bad road condition that lead a spin. As a whole, he made a good line, however he made a mistake at the clipping point at the first corner and was placed the position not easy to go through the final round
As a result, he missed the final round.
We are going to participate in the D1 Round 5 on August 20th and 21st at the Ebisu circuit with S15 Silvia of the driver KAZU☆Hayashida and JZA 80 Supra of the driver MAX☆Orido.
Though it could be expected the tough race, we hope to have your great support to the both drivers.
■Video Report
■Link
■Orido'z Drifting
The second half of D1 Grand Prix in 2005 has begun. The condition was very tough for the drivers and spectators because of the fierce heat.□Practice
JZA 80 Supra driven by MAX☆Orido got more power from this event installing the 3.4 litter engine and sequential transmission. KAZU☆Hayashida using S13 Silvia is also second to none at practice and we expected for him to be in a high ranking.
However, before the date of the practice, troubles happened to the S15. Therefore, he tried to get on the qualifying without rehearsal because of taking time to modify the vehicle.
□Qualifying
At the second run of the qualifying, MAX☆Orido showed a dynamic drifting from final corner and got 99.2 points. He went through the qualifying on 15th place of 86 drivers. KAZU☆Hayashida made a mistake at first and second run, however third run was resuscitative for him getting 99.5 points. As a result, both drivers went through the qualifying.
□First battle of final day
At the fist run of driver Hayashida in final day, he started out from the final corner, however he had a minor collision to the wall at the first corner. This made him bad situation and made a mistake at second and third run being defeated on 22nd place.
On the other hand, Orido missed the first run, however as he relaxed to try his second run, he showed a perfect drifting getting 100 points to advance the next tandem run.
□Best 8 and Best 4
First competitor of the tandem run was driver Miki who is a champion last year. MAX☆Orido, a lead car showed a nice ride from the final corner and got advantage. At the second run, MAX☆Orido get inside at the second corner to win the battle.
Next competitor is his sworn friend, driver Taniguchi. Orido get inside again at the second corner and got advantage. At his Second run, as driver Taniguchi spun at the first corner regrettably, MAX☆Orido went through the best 4.
□Best 4
Competitor of the best 4 is driver Tezuka. MAX☆Orido got an advantage because of the speed and angle of the first corner. At the second run, chased Orido got into the Tezuka’s vehicle at the second corner, however left side of the front bumper of Tezuka’s vehicle crushed rear bumper of Orido’s vehicle. The judges gave advantage to MAX☆Orido and he decided to went into the final battle.
□This is the “Orido style”
The competitor of the final battle is driver Kazama. We can repair the vehicle completely, however MAX☆Orido tried to perform a good drifting as a chased car. He bravely and aggressively tried his best; unfortunately he collided with the judging stand. This collision made the vehicle impossible to run and retired.
Finally, D1 Ebisu finished second
Thanks to great support of the fans, we could get the second place of this event. Team RS☆R make an effort to be a champion, therefore please expect our racing activity from now on.
■Gallery
■Video Report
■Link
2004 D1 GRAND PRIX
■21st Saturday Qualifying
Thanks to the practice the day before, the judges gave us a good evaluation on the practice ride. Moreover, they said that the driver Hayashida drove a good line and we mentally tried a best condition.
□First run of the qualifying
Driver Hayashida went off the track.Some parts are damaged such as front bumper, intercooler and so on, however we managed to repair them and come back to qualifying again.
We run the second and third run safely and passed the qualifying.
After that, we modified the bumper and adjusted the alignment to make it the best condition to the finals.
■22nd Sunday Final
First round of the final
On the first and second run, we missed the inner clipping point and worried about advancing the best 16. However, success of the third run made us going into the next round.
□Best 16→Best 8
Next competitor is driver Hibino who finished second at the Ebisu circuit.
Furthermore,he got the perfect point in the first round of the final so we expected the harsh round.
Lead car is driver Hibino and driver Hayashida chased him in the first run.
In the second run, driver Hayashida lead and Hibino chased. Driver Hibino went off the truck caused by over speed with his car spinning at the second and third corner.
At this point, Hayashida decided his best 8.
However, Hibino’s spin leads to going off course of Hayashida, which caused the damage to wind, trunk and front bumper.
Best 8→Best 4
Competitor is top-secret driver Miki.
First run began with chased car Hayashida and lead car Miki.Driver Miki got an advantage for Hayashida can’t be near inside at the third corner and he made an overtake there.
Hayashida decided his lose at this point.
He ended in 6th place on this season that is his best, however we got a lot of assignment for the next Odaiba leg.
From now on, we aim to step next position to practice and modify and also need to change the suspension for the Odaiba.
We can’t practice before the Odaiba leg, it is the point to modify our vehicle as similar circuit as possible.
Driver Hayashida was placed on the 13th of the point ranking this year.
We request for your continued support form now on.